Corn remover for cooked sweet corn



Aug 17, 1948- M. M.wRlGHT 2,447,301

CORN REMOVER FOR COOKED SWEET CORN Filed OCT.. 30, 1944 Mrs/1a JY. Wry/NPatented Aug. 17, 1948 CORN REMOVER FOR COOKED SWEET CORN Marshall M.Wright, Pierpont, Ohio Application October 30, 1944, Serial No. 561,023

(Cl. SII-278) 1 Claim. l

This invention relates to a corn remover for cooked sweet corn and isdesigned to provide a f simple, eicient inexpensive and ingenious devicewhich may be readily manipulated without special practice or skill andwhich will protect the operator from the danger of accident and whichwill provide for the removal of the corn Without Waste and withoutremoving with the corn objectionable portions of the cob and the toughroot portions of the corn kernels.

While the device of the present invention is particularly adapted foruse in the removal of corn from the cob it is also designed to have aWide variety of other uses which will recommend it to the housewife as ageneral utility tool. From a further consideration of the drawings andthe followingspecification, it will be apparent that the device may beused for the paring of many types of fruit and vegetables, particularlysuch fruit or'vegetables as are circular and elongated as for instancecucumbers, squash and the like. With such vegetables or fruit theexpandable circular cutting blade is used in the same manner as whenapplied in the cutting of corn from the cob. The device, however, alsoincludes a straight substantially rigid blade portion which adapts thedevice for use as a general utility kitchen knife for slicing and paringand the thousandfold other uses to which such knives are put in generalculinary pursuits.

From the foregoing, it will be understood that it is one of the primaryobjects of the invention to provide a general utility kitchen tool.which is particularly adapted to safely, quickly and thoroughly removethe desirable portions of corn from the cob.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a device of thecharacter set forth which will automatically accommodate itself to usewith ears of corn of widely differing diameters without the necessity ofthe user making adjustments of the device and Without any departure fromthe characteristic simplicity and clean cutting char acteristics of thedevice.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a kitchen tool ofthe character set forth which, While being particularly designed for andemcient in the removal of corn from the cob or in the paring of similarelongated cylindrical fruits or vegetables, is also useful as a generalutility kitchen knife for paring or slicing and the like.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device of thecharacter set forth which has unique and advantageous structuralfeatures which render it not only susceptible of economic manufacturebut of improved durability and strength such that it may have a longlife of utility. This object is also accompanied by the provision of astructure which is simple in design and is devoid of intricateconfigurations which present difficulties in the matter of thoroughlycleaning and sterilizing the tool. Thus the device is one which may bereadily maintained in a sanitary condition at all times with a minimumof care.

y Numerous other objects and advantages of the f present invention willbe apparent from a consideration of the following specification taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my invention showing it in the midposition of operation on an ear of corn; and

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the device shown in Figure 1. v

Referring now more particularly to the draw? ings, the device includes ahandle IIJ in which is embedded a long shank portion I I of the cuttingblade. The handle III may be of solid material having an aperture orrecess into which the shank II is fitted or if desired the handle may beformed of a pair of matching handle sections suitably recessed toreceive the shank II therebetween. The shank II may be secured in thehandle IIJ in any desired manner but preferably it is secured asillustrated by rivets I2 passing through suitable apertures in the shankII and.

headed over on the outer surfaces of the handle I l) as at I3.

In order to secure a permanent and rigid attachment of the movement ofthe shank in the handle the shank II is of reduced width with respect tothe width of the remainder of the blade thus to provide a shoulder I4which abuts the .inner square end I5 of the handle. The engagement ofthe shoulder surfaces with the end of the handle together with thesecurement of the shank I I by the rivets I2 insures at all times arigid connection which will not deteriorate with use and which preventsthe possibility of tilting or twisting of the blade with respect to thehandle which would cause inaccuracies in the Icutting and the danger ofaccident to the user.

The blade member extends forwardly from the shoulder I4 to a straightblade portion I6 which is turned as at I1 to give rigidity to thestructure. By such turning of the blade the thrust when in operation asin Figure 1 will not cause the edges of the imbedded shank to bearagainst the thinner slicing and suchlothenoperations asiare customary inthe kitchen. during the .preparation .of meals. The downward thrust onthe rigid blade I8 will also be seen to be carried to the handle I0 bythe Y flat portion of the shank II and thus will not tend to force theside edges of the shankagainst the handle body in a manner to cause thehandle`---- to split or otherwise fracture.

Forwardly of the rigid blade I@ the blade is divided into a pair ofsemi-ilexible..cuttingbladesVV I9 and 20. The ,blades I9 and 2) are eachsemicircularly bent, their ends v,2| overlapping as at 22. AThe loweredges 23 of each of the blades lil and 2U'are formed as cutting edgespreferablyv in" the manner of;.the formingcf the cutting edge of therigid;v blade 1t.' In thel preferred construe, tion'here' shownthe`blades i9 andv Zare Iformed from ',aydivisionoil the materialA of the:blade I5; the material of the-blades i9 andZE however being ofsubstantial-lythe'same thickness as that of theu blade' 'I ThisYconstruction while not necessary to all'forrns of theinventionprovidesfora cornV plete circular character" of the cornu removing' blades 19and 20 which wouldA not be the case ii thebl'ades were formed ofseparate `blade mem'- bers` joineditogetherysince at the point ofjoining a V-shaped confgurationwouldgbe present and the lcorn adjacentsuch V-would not be fullyand cleanly removed.

Inthe operation of the .present device ,for normal slicing vand paringoperations or the like the rigid blade I 6 is used in the usualmanneryof use of a simple kitchen paring knife. The right'an-l gularrelation of thejblade edge with respect to;

the at of the handle insures aminiinum of wearing between theI shanklandthe handle. When thedevice' is to be used *for the removal of cookedsweet; cornfrom the cob the corn is held in a vertical position asshownin Figuregl. The `operator preferablyholds'the vcorn at the lowerportion of the cob and grasping the cutter lby the handle the circularsemi-ilexible blades I9 and 20 are;

position'ed'to"encircle Athe cob with the cutting edgesthereof`lowerrnost as shown in AFigure l. A downward pressure on the handle IDthus forces the cutting 'edges into the kernels off corn at their rootsVandY in vsnug .proXimitywto the cob. The semi-flexibility andoverlapping character of the blades I9 --and 20 permits the `blades to"closely embrace the cob and to compensate not only` for variousthicknesses of different cobsfbut for differences of diameter of the cobfrom end to end. Thus when a larger cob is used or when the cuttingedges have reached a wider portion of the cob the edges will expand tocompensate for such extra width; however, since the ends 2| overlap,such expansion will not cause a separation of the member I9 from themember 20 and thus there Will be rio-gap in. .the cutting.. operaton.-ofthe blades.

After the mid point of the cob has been reached by the blades, it ispreferable that the operator shift the holding hand to the topportion-ofthe cobdrcm which the corn has already been "removed Theblades may then be forced downwardlyztothe lowermost end of the cob andthe corn will then have been cleanly cut from the entire' cob.'- Theiexibility of the blades will insure.a. snug cutting action so as toinsure the removal of all the desirable portions of the kernels withoutcutting into the cob or removing the.,l undesirable tough root portions.It will of course be understood that the ilexibility `will 'cause the"blades' to conform to the diminishing `diameter ioi the cob at the lowerend as well as the,increasing, 1 thickness encountered in passing downfrom the tapered top of the cob.

It is understood that the invention is not limitedil,"

vention without departure fronr'the spirtionV scope of the invention. asoutlined ,in the'apj-gl pended claim.`

What I claim is:

A corn cutter comprising a circularly'shapedf;v cutting blade havingresiliently overlappingA ends',J

and a handleY integral with .the cutting, blade and extending radiallytherefrom at a point substane. tially opposite the overlapping ends, thesaid" handle being bent at rightangleszto the cutting blade.

MARSHALL Mi? WRIGHT.

REFERENCES CITED The .ollowingfreerences, are of record ,in the,...1

le. .of .this patent :v

UNITED STATES PATENTS- Number Name.v Date 53,849 McGill ..Apr.. 10,,1866: 903,056- Clift ,NOV. 3,1908. 1,386,956V Sanders Aug.,f9, 192112,032,562 Burns Mar.` 3, .193,6 2,188,020 Tewell Jan. 23, 194.0;2,297,565. Kors Sept.l 91.9!2.l 2,300,671 Howard Nov..r3, 1942

